Difference between revisions of "Motorola MC68000"

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The '''Motorola MC68000''' was the first member of the [[Motorola M68000 Family]] of [[VLSI]] [[microprocessor]]s. Although it was described by Motorala as a "16-bit microprocessor", it is generally considered to be a 32-bit '''''architecture''''', because in a number of important aspects of an architecture:
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The '''Motorola MC68000''' was the first member of the [[Motorola M68000 Family]] of [[VLSI]] [[microprocessor]]s. Although it was described by Motorala as a "16-bit microprocessor", it is generally considered to be a 32-bit '''''architecture'''''; it is probably more correct to describe it as a 16-bit '''''implementation''''' of a 32-bit architecture.
 
 
* Word (address space) size
 
* Register length
 
* Many operations (arithmetical, logical, etc)
 
 
 
It is probably more correct to describe it as a 16-bit '''''implementation''''' of a 32-bit architecture.
 
  
 
A major failing of the MC68000 was that it could not support [[virtual memory]]; not enough internal state was occurred when a fault occurred. Several computer makers worked around this by including two separate MC68000 chips; when a page fault occurred, the first one was 'frozen', and a second fixed up the fault, then restarted the 'main' CPU. This issue was fixed with the successor chip, the [[MC68010]].
 
A major failing of the MC68000 was that it could not support [[virtual memory]]; not enough internal state was occurred when a fault occurred. Several computer makers worked around this by including two separate MC68000 chips; when a page fault occurred, the first one was 'frozen', and a second fixed up the fault, then restarted the 'main' CPU. This issue was fixed with the successor chip, the [[MC68010]].

Revision as of 19:39, 14 November 2016


MC68000
Family: Motorola M68000 Family
Architecture: 32-bit
Manufacturer: Motorola
Year Introduced: 1979
Address bus: 24-bit
Data bus: 16-bit
Number of registers: 15 general 32-bit registers (8 data, 7 address)
Clock Speed: 4 MHz - 16.67 MHz


The Motorola MC68000 was the first member of the Motorola M68000 Family of VLSI microprocessors. Although it was described by Motorala as a "16-bit microprocessor", it is generally considered to be a 32-bit architecture; it is probably more correct to describe it as a 16-bit implementation of a 32-bit architecture.

A major failing of the MC68000 was that it could not support virtual memory; not enough internal state was occurred when a fault occurred. Several computer makers worked around this by including two separate MC68000 chips; when a page fault occurred, the first one was 'frozen', and a second fixed up the fault, then restarted the 'main' CPU. This issue was fixed with the successor chip, the MC68010.